Caught Stealing Review
Propulsive, surprising and entertaining, Caught Stealing will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) is a burnt out ex-baseball player, living in New York, scrounging a living working at a bar and drinking too much. The only good thing in his life, seemingly, is his relationship with paramedic Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz), who happens to be over when his neighbour Russ (Matt Smith) leaves Hank his cat and flees back to London to visit his dying father. Little do the young lovers know, but this innocuous favour will embroil them in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of 1990s New York City
Caught Stealing is a film that constantly keeps you on your toes. Starting with a zingy, rom-com-esque sequence between Kravitz and Butler, the film begins its steady, neverending spiral into increasing levels of violence, without ever losing that initial sense of fun.
Butler is wonderful in the lead role, although the standout is Kravitz who is magnetic every moment she’s on screen. An array of supporting characters all make impact, including some fun pop ups from Bad Bunny and Action Bronson, but most surprising and welcome and Vincent D’Onofrio and Liev Schrieber as a pair of hasidic mobsters. They are wonderfully deranged, and honestly we’d watch a whole movie just about them.
One more shoutout must be made for Nikita Kukushkin’s Pavel, who is a delightfully violent and utterly deranged Russian hitman. Dialogue, performance and action collide to create a wonderfully unique character - from shocking dog-like scurrying and out of nowhere headbutts, to writer Charlie Huston making the character speak almost entirely in random jingoistic US catchphrases, he’s an utter joy.
The action is consistently shocking, although when flashing back to the car wrecks in slow motion sometimes the CGI feels off. That being said, across the board the cinematography, art direction and wardrobe are all wonderful; this is a film that feels like a film, not a Netflix movie. It’s imperfect, and because of that, much more enjoyable and pleasing to watch.
And the ultimate plot journey - the way the story unfolds, and how this caper comes to be, and ultimately comes off - feels fresh and unique. This is a movie that doesn’t hold back, and because of that you can never really feel safe in ‘knowing’ where the story will go. Right until the last moment, the film manages to continue surprising you, and that is worth the price of admission alone.
